Hope and Love
by animalwriter
Summary: A sad Hannibal and Clarice fanfic. One-shot.


Hope and Love  
  
I hope you like this one! Please r&r! Enjoy! I will write an alternate ending soon.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Clarice Starling sat on her bed flipping through an FBI case file. In a chair across from her sat FBI agent Frank Kusing. They were assigned to work on this project together.  
  
Frank smiled, "I don't know why they hate you so much, Starling. You're one of the best agents we have."  
  
"Let's just concentrate on the assignment, Frank." Clarice said. She didn't need any compliments from men right now, especially from men like Frank. She knew well enough that he had some kind of silly schoolboy crush on her. What was important right now was to study information on the new serial killer, not make conversation.  
  
He sighed, "You're so serious, Clarice. You really need to relax every once in a while. Is it Hannibal Lecter that makes you so tense all the time?"  
  
"That's none of your concern," she mumbled. Imagine him even having the nerve to bring up Hannibal Lecter in her presence. What ever went on between her and Hannibal Lecter absolutely did not concern him.  
  
Frank groaned, and put his hand on her knee, "Isn't there any way I can make you loosen up?"  
  
She shifted in her seat, moving her leg away from him, "Just do your job and forget about my personal life."  
  
"Clarice. . ." he said, moving closer to her and putting his hand on her shoulder, "Just give me a chance. I can help you relax."  
  
"Frank, leave me alone and get back to work. Maybe we should go into the kitchen. . ."  
  
"Aw, Clarice, you're no fun," he said, sliding up next to her and putting his arm around her, "Let's just forget about that assignment for a minute."  
  
Clarice sighed. What was the point of resisting, anyway? He would never give up until he got what he wanted.  
  
"Clarice?" Frank asked.  
  
Should she give in?  
  
He smiled, "You're considering it, aren't you? C'mon, Clarice."  
  
She sighed and let him move closer. It was almost as though she had nothing better to do. Her career with the FBI was pretty much going nowhere. It seemed almost pointless to bother with the new project. And she'd probably never see Hannibal Lecter again.  
  
That was it. She had no will power left. She let herself succumb to Frank's coaxing, and didn't try to stop him when he put his mouth on hers.  
  
***  
  
Hannibal Lecter felt rage boil up inside him as he watched Clarice Starling through a crack in her bedroom door.  
  
It had been a year since he last saw her at Chesapeake Bay, and he had come back to see how she was doing. But the last thing he had expected was to find her making love to another man.  
  
***  
  
The door flew open and a familiar figure ran into the room with a kitchen knife.  
  
Clarice gasped and pulled the covers over her body, "Dr. Lecter!"  
  
"Hello, Clarice. . ." Hannibal said in a low voice, "I must admit I never expected this from you."  
  
"I-I-" she didn't know what to say.  
  
"Hurry, Clarice, get your gun before he kills you!!" Frank exclaimed.  
  
Hannibal smirked at Frank, "Kill her? Why would I do a thing like that?"  
  
Clarice didn't have time to think as Hannibal lunged at Frank with the knife, stabbing him in the throat.  
  
"Dr. Lecter, stop!" Clarice screamed as Frank's blood squirted all over the room.  
  
  
  
But Hannibal didn't stop. His face was red with fury as he continued to stab Frank, whose blood was pouring everywhere.  
  
Frank was dead, but Hannibal wouldn't stop stabbing him.  
  
Clarice threw on a robe and ran to Hannibal, grabbing his arm and trying to pull him away from Frank's dead body, "Dr. Lecter, please, stop!!"  
  
Hannibal stood to face her angrily, throwing the knife down on the floor.  
  
Clarice felt hot tears stream down her cheeks, "Dr. Lecter, why did you kill him!?"  
  
Hannibal's face boiled with anger. He grabbed her forcefully and pinned her against the wall, "Why did I kill him? Why did I kill HIM!? Clarice Starling, how could YOU!!??? How could you make love to that man!?"  
  
More tears came as she realized that he was right. It was all her fault! How could she have done that!?  
  
"I-I understand why you killed him, Dr. Lecter," Clarice whispered through her tears, "I don't know what came over me. It was an accident. I didn't mean to do it." She threw her arms around him, and buried her face in his shirt, sobbing.  
  
He didn't say anything, but reluctantly put his hand on her shoulder.  
  
"I'm sorry," Clarice whispered.  
  
Hannibal didn't respond, just held her at arms length and looked at her, his expression unreadable.  
  
"I didn't love him," she said, more softly.  
  
Hannibal smirked, "Then who do you love? Is it the FBI, Clarice?"  
  
She didn't answer, just stared down at her feet.  
  
Hannibal sighed, "I'll be leaving now, Clarice."  
  
Clarice watched as Hannibal slowly walked to her bedroom door, "Wait, Hannibal!"  
  
He stopped and looked back at her, "Yes, Clarice?"  
  
  
  
She couldn't speak the words, even though she wanted to, so she just stood there silently, tears streaming down her face.  
  
Hannibal sighed, "I know, Clarice. You don't have to say anything."  
  
"But-"  
  
He walked towards her, stopping with his face close to hers.  
  
"Hannibal-"  
  
He put his hand behind her head and lowered his face toward hers, kissing her deeply. When he pulled back his eyes were gentle, "I know you can't say it, Clarice. It's all right."  
  
"Say what?" she asked, hoping he really did know what she wanted to say.  
  
He smiled, "I'm a cannibal, a criminal, and a murderer. Your duty to the FBI won't let you say the words. But you do love me, don't you?"  
  
She was silent. He knew.  
  
Hannibal nodded, "Good-bye, Clarice." He turned and walked out the door, and out of her life once more.  
  
She watched him leave silently, not bothering to wipe away the tears that still fell from her eyes. He was gone.  
  
Before she could think anymore she heard a gunshot. It had come from her kitchen. A million things rushed through her head as she ran, and when she burst into the kitchen, her worst nightmare greeted her.  
  
Hannibal lay on the ground, bleeding profusely from a large chest wound. Above him stood Ralph Kane, a young FBI agent with high hopes for advancement in the bureau, "Agent Starling, I saw him follow you into your house! Are you all right?! " "No!" Clarice screamed, new tears springing from her eyes as she fell to Hannibal's side, "HANNIBAL!"  
  
"What?!" Ralph exclaimed "Starling, what are you doing!? I just saved your life!"  
  
Hannibal looked up at Clarice, "Clarice. . .I'm sorry. . ."  
  
"What? Don't worry, you'll be okay. . ." she murmered through her tears.  
  
He smiled sadly, "No. There's nothing anyone can do now."  
  
"N-no!" she gasped.  
  
He sighed and lay his hand on the side of her face, "It's all right. I wouldn't have been very happy living without you, anyway."  
  
"Please don't go! There must be some way-"  
  
Hannibal smiled again, "There isn't, Clarice. You know that as well as I do."  
  
"Oh, Hannibal!" she sobbed, burying her face in his blood-stained shirt, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for what I did with Frank. I don't know what I was thinking. You're the only one I could ever care for."  
  
"It's all right," he whispered, "I forgive you, Clarice."  
  
She pulled back and gazed into his eyes, her face covered in his blood and her tears, "I. . .love you."  
  
"I know," he said with a gentle smile, "I love you, too."  
  
She buried her face in his neck, sobbing. She felt his hand stroke her hair a few times before going limp.  
  
FBI agent Ralph Kane stood staring, confused, at the woman in front of him, sobbing over the lifeless body of Dr. Hannibal Lecter.  
  
***  
  
Ardelia Mapp watched as her best friend Clarice Starling covered Hannibal Lecter's dead body with the black tarp in the autopsy room of behavioral science.  
  
"There won't be a funeral," Clarice said with a smile, "Not for a criminal like him. Nobody would come anyway."  
  
"Clarice, did you have feelings for him?" Ardelia asked softly.  
  
Clarice smiled again, "I did. But it's all right. It was his time to go, anyway."  
  
"Clarice. . ."  
  
"Don't worry, Ardelia," Clarice said, "I'm okay."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
Clarice didn't answer, she just smiled softly and kissed Dr. Lecter's forehead before covering his face with the tarp.  
  
Ardelia watched as Clarice left the room.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Clarice Starling walked out of the FBI headquarters into the sunlight. She looked up at the blue sky as the wind blew through her long red hair, and smiled.  
  
"Would you ever say to me, 'Stop. If you loved me, you'd stop?' "  
  
"Not in a thousand years, Dr. Lecter." She whispered into the wind, and in her heart she heard him reply.  
  
"That's my girl." 


End file.
